Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

Rome Dodson · Joined: 24 Jul 2005 Posts: 147

7/25 danny now has nose tube out, and stomach tube in to feed. sat,. was walking .may be transfered to bakersfield for therapy , recognised me thurs. go see him, visiting hrs. 12 to 8 kaiser woodland hills. rome

Groundhog · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 67 Location: Irvine

All:

My wife and I visited Danny and Olivia last Sunday, after Rome. Danny recognized Ratna but not me, and he spoke of Dana and Fred Ballard. As a punishment, when Ratna and Olivia went down to the cafeteria for a chat, I read to Danny from a National Geographic.

Danny has no bandages, and still has his ratty beard and head of hair. He speaks in brief statements (not unlike normal), can see with both eyes, likes to sit up, and has strong opinions about the unimportance of the Silk Railway, my reading skills and me in general. Good. While I was there he worked very hard to remove his compression pads on his legs (with my encouragment), and to take off the neck brace (which I prevented). He has a 3 minute short term memory, and enjoys bad jokes (the same one, repeatedly). He is pissed off and fighting to recover, in his own unwise ways. Double good. I think he will recover from his fall into the valley of death, but he needs us to holler at him to move his butt, and try harder.

It is possible that he will be relocated up north soon, so if there ever was a time to show your support for SGHA and respect for each other, this would be it -- go see him this week, stimulate the SOB and make him alert, even angry (just not agitated). Reading to him is good, but probably not from the National Geographic magazine.

His visiting hours are noon to 8 daily. Walk in like you own the place. Olivia spends 4 hours there daily, but leaves to feeds the dogs in the evening.

Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center Hospital
5601 De Soto Ave. Woodland Hills CA 91365 (next to Highway 101)
(818) 719-2000
Visiting hours are noon to 8 daily,
Lobby #1, Room 5111

--Groundhog

addicted2climbing · Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 145

Hello,

Being fairly new ot the club I have yet ot meet Danny. However, I am curious what happened. Was this an HG accident?

Marc

kyardley · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 25

See the forum subject "Need Information" from about 7/5 for background. Danny is a founding SHGA member.

Mike M · Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Posts: 26 Location: Somis

I visited Danny today and found him initially combative. He had been trying to remove his restraints for some time and was pissed because no one (including myself) would help him. I don't really blame him, I'd probably feel the same way if my hands were tied down all the time.

On the bright side, after a while we were actually able to speak a little. His language skills seem OK and he does remember what he flies and how long he has been flying. He also acknowledged that his glider is probably in Humpty Dumpty condition now. All good signs.

He is definitely his irascible self, just somewhat exaggerated and unrestrained. He also seemed definitely sad when I said it was time to go.

Visitors and friendship are what will help rebuild him. Please go visit him as he needs our support. I'll probably go back tomorrow as the hospital is not too far from my work.

Mike

barton · Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 87

Danny has been moved to:

Northridge Medical Center
18300 Roscoe Blvd
Northridge

room 3301

818.885.8500

(x5328 nurses station)

he was trying to get out of the place, do not blame him at all for that, think that is a good sign.

on your way to or from the LZ, stop by to see if he remembers you, he told me that i do not look like myself.

DrJeff · Joined: 03 Aug 2006 Posts: 21

Can anyone post Olivia's address? Maybe I missed it. It would probably be nice if SHE got a card or two!

Dr. Jeff
_________________
Jeff Bjorck
www.purepiano.com ~quiet music to calm the heart in a noisy world~

BudRob · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 102

Laurie and I visited Danny last night and he is doing much better. He recognized both of us and spoke of old times. We go WAY back and his memory for the 70's is better than for recent times right now.

He is still very slow in his thinking and has a long way to go. He is getting theropy of all sorts from 8-4 so if visits are best after 4 PM.

His wife says that he sometimes gets agitated if visitors stay past 20 minutes but I saw no sign of that myself. However I took the hint and left in a reasonable time.

Danny will likely not recall these visits; he certainly doesn't recall my last one. His wife requests that visitors bring a signed card. She is taping them onto the wall to remind Danny who has come to see him.

NMERider · Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 757 Location: Long Beach, CA

I stopped by to see Danny this evening. Thanks to Barton for the location and visiting hours. Olivia and her friend were there. I showed up w/ my notebook PC and some King Mtn. videos. Danny wanted to sleep until I mentioned the videos. He enjoyed about 6-1/2 minutes before the X-Ray tech showed up. After that he really was ready for some shuteye having done therapy all day. I left a copy on data DVD for Olivia in case anyone else shows up w/ a laptop.

Danny looked good and was speaking pretty well. His weight is down to 201#. I hope others stop by to see him between 4 & 8 PM between the end of therapy and visiting hours. He was glad to have the visit and it's great moral support for Olivia too. Stop in the main building desk for a visitor badge before going to the ILS building. Danny seemed to enjoy the video and it drew out a fair amount of interaction from him. If you plan a visit you might want to do the same and bring a laptop. I'm not sure what the WiFi situation is in the ILS building but it's worth coming equipped.

Cheers, Jonathan

Groundhog · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 67 Location: Irvine

I saw Danny on Saturday. He is looking good, compared to two weeks ago. He recognized me and we had a pleasant if brief chat. He was rather sleepy, so we spoke for only 3 minutes during my 30 minute stay. Danny seems to moving around when asleep, as if he is dreaming. He really enjoyed my visit, and I hope everyone can take some time to visit him.

I may have seen Danny at a good time. The hospital has a “sitter” in his room 24/7 to keep an eye on him, as he sometimes thinks he is being held against his will (actually, that is true), so he tries to escape. Not a good plan, as he isn’t strong enough to walk unaided. They say that he might be a bit rude or get agitated if the conversation is unpleasant.

He really likes to talk about flying, and he spent a long time telling me about his nice XC from Kagel last week. He said the day was warm and cloudless, but he couldn't remember if Irwin or someone else picked him up. I hope that during the time Danny is asleep or unconscious or were ever it is brain-injured people go, he is flying in light lift with a high ceiling. Personally I prefer partly cloudy, but I guess Danny gets to choose his own weather conditions.

Rome Dodson · Joined: 24 Jul 2005 Posts: 147

mon.8/9 i talked to dannys wife , she said he has had 3 good days,going off of stage 4 , (good).he is at northridge hosp. at roscoe and reseda nurses station# 818-885-5328 ext 5328 room 3301 visiting hrs.mon. thru fri. 4 to 8 sun. all day sat call first. i'm going tue at 4 to see him, you should too!! danny flying sylmar for 35 years. rome

Chip · Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: Danny's track log

Here's the track log in a google earth format (right click and choose Save Target as, change the extension to kml instead of xml). Not a very long flight (4 miles over the back). Very close to a road. Not sure why it was so difficult to find Danny.

Here's a couple of screenshots from GE

From the top, you can see that the flight wasn't all the long or far from launch. You can also see that he was VERY close to an accessible road (.05 miles)

From the 3d image view you can see that the decent was pretty steep. I assume based on second hand information that Danny was fighting a stiff headwind. But it looks like the chosen LZ should have been OK unless the treeline was spinning off some serious rotor.

Oh, and Danny, I updated your 5030 to the latest firmware and charged your battery. Now you DON'T HAVE A REASON to say your intrument isn't working correctly at the next Dahlston Cup.

Heal quickly buddy Cool

Groundhog · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 67 Location: Irvine

Yesterday I went to see Danny. He is currently getting occupational and physical therapy several times daily (combing hair, remembering address and phone numbers etc). Danny's energy level is climbing, but he is easily pissed off that he cannot remember recent (past year) things. They continue to have him on 24/7 watch so he doesn't try to crawl outta the hospital.

Olivia is there for 2-3 hours per day, and remains confident that he will recover and be back flying within a couple of years. Danny really enjoys taking about hang gliding, and everyone is grateful when we drop in for a visit. Please keep coming by!

Mike M · Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Posts: 26 Location: Somis

I collected all the interviews we made last Sunday plus some landing footage (including Joe landing the movie glider) into a DVD. I will be in a seminar through Thursday so I will not be able to get the DVD to Danny until Friday. I'll deliver it then.

Many thanks to Lynn for taking most of the interviews. The compilation is a pretty neat, although raw, compilation of about 25 messages for Danny. I don't have time to make it slick in Jonathan style, but I think it will be motivating for Danny and the cinema verite format actually feels kind of cool.

Mike

Groundhog · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 67 Location: Irvine

I visited Danny yesterday. He is making steady improvements, is getting stronger, and is learning to read again. The changes I see from one week to the next are significant, but Danny still has a long way to go. The hospital still has to tie him down because he is bored with his mental exercises and wants to go home. Danny really can't remember that he broke his neck and has head injuries, so he is negotiating with everyone to take his neck brace off. The important thing is to keep stimulating him with stories without agitating him by reminding him that he is tied down. Danny is receptive to being told that he was flying and had an accident that broke his head, and now is in the hospital working hard to get better. Think KISS.

I hope that you all can visit him, as he really enjoys hearing hang gliding stories. He enjoyed talking about his flights from Hurricane and Molley's Nipple. Also, each of us can remind him that we and the hospital want him to go home as soon as he is able, and the only way to get better is to cooperate.